Who’s Afraid of Howard Zinn? Three Centuries of Curriculum Attacks in
Arkansas
Prepared by Dr. Michael B. Dougan, Arkansas State University
State Representative Kim Hendren’s House Bill 1834 proposed to ban any teaching of or even
recognition of the work of the late historian Howard Zinn or his popular book, A People’s
History of the United States. This is not first time legislators have tried to control thinking. In
this PD we will review the post-Civil War demand that schools teach that the South was right
and the North wrong. We will assess the impact of the ban on teaching Evolution, and we will
examine how Communism and Civil Rights impacted teachers in more recent times. For good
measure, we will review the banned works of fiction. Playwright Edward Albee, who just died
last year, gave Virginia Woof a place in American literature she had not have achieved on her
own. Will Hendren do the same for Zinn? I am supplied both with the book (which is free to
Arkansas teachers) and all the teaching manuals that accompany it.
Background:
Arkansas State Rep. Kim Hendren (R) has introduced a one-page bill that would ban "study
books or any other material authored by or concerning Howard Zinn" from the state's public
schools, including charter schools. Text of the bill is below:
An Interview with Hendren:
Zinn has been dead since 2010, so it's not like he's a commentator on current social or political
affairs, and he's not the kind of writer typically taught in high schools. But in a phone interview
with Reason today, Rep. Hendren explained why he introduced legislation to protect Arkansas
teenagers from hearing the ideas of the late radical leftist historian (and favorite of fictional Matt
Damon characters).
Hendren, who says "he's not an expert" on Zinn, asserts that a number of his constituents have
raised "concerns about some of the approaches that Howard Zinn has taken to history in the
books he's written." He adds, "My basic personal philosophy is I think we ought to be open to
hearing both sides of the situation and then try to do what's best for ourselves and our country.
That's what will happen with this bill."
The 79-year-old legislator — who also happens to be the brother-in-law of Arkansas Gov. Asa
Hutchinson (R) — clarified that the bill is only meant to apply to elementary and secondary
schools, not public colleges.
When asked if he thinks this bill could set a precedent allowing for left-leaning states to ban
conservative historians' perspectives from being considered in public education, Hendren said,
"Ultimately the parents have a little more responsibility to what [children] are exposed to until
they are a little bit older to be able to exercise more judgment. In college and so forth, I have no
problem with it." Hendren says his concern is primarily with providing equal time for opposing
political viewpoints to avoid "indoctrination" of one point of view, and that his aim with this bill
is not necessarily seeing his bill passed in its current form, but rather, to spark a conversation and
debate.
Arkansas State Legislature
Hendren tells Reason that since news of his bill was first reported by the Arkansas Times, he has
been inundated with hostile phone calls and tweets. He adds that he doesn't think he's done
anything to make people think he's "a bad American or somebody that ought to be degraded or
called a cracker."
In late 2016 Hendren introduced a bill that would ban students from possessing any personal
electronic or digital devices while at school, including video game consoles, cell phones,
cameras, tablets, and pagers (what year is this?). Explaining his motivation for introducing the
bill, Hendren told KATV, "If it's going to allow a young boy in that class to email, or however
they do…Instagram or whatever they do, a girl in their class to send him a nude or partial nude
picture, which is going on now in the public schools, it ought not be done in the classroom."
As a state senator running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2009, Hendren found himself in hot
water when he referred to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as "that Jew." Hendren later
apologized and tried to explain away his gaffe by saying, "I don't use a Teleprompter, and
occasionally I put my foot in my month...I was attempting to explain that unlike Sen. Schumer, I
believe in traditional values, like we used to see on 'The Andy Griffith Show.'"
Telling Reason that he doesn't "think it harms people to discuss what we are discussing here,"
Hendren hopes for "an intelligent, respectful debate" in the Arkansas House of Representatives,
adding, "we Arkansas folks think we ought to listen to each other and then try to work out a
solution that's best for us and our country and our state and our young people."
Of the people he says are conflating his actions with book-burning — or those that would
describe his bill as fundamentally hostile to free speech and which could open the floodgates for
any state government to ban ideas it deems beyond the pale — Hendren says, "I know they are
going to get after me, but the moral part of me — because I accept salary from the state of
Arkansas and I've introduced this bill — I just need to stand up and take responsibility for it, and
that's what I plan to do. So I hope you'll pray for me as I continue to do that."
Photo Credit: Gobonobo/Wikimedia Commons
WHY THE TITLE?
The play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” was written by Edward Albee in 1962. Albee died
on September 16, 2016. Its story of marital disintegration was radical for the time and the threehour play, which was issued on four LP records, was followed by a motion picture starring
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The title was based on the song “Who’s Afraid of the Big
Bad Wolf?” from the Walt Disney film The Three Little Pigs. The characters in the play and
motion picture sing “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf/? to the tune of “Here we go Round the
Mulberry Bush” which was in the public domain. Actually, in the opinion of this author, the
dysfunction seen in the play has considerable parallels to the only Woolf book we attempted to
read, To the Lighthouse (1927).Arkansan John Gould Fletcher, our Pulitzer Prize-winning poet,
was on the fringes of this group that also included the economist John Maynard Keynes. Fletcher
and Woolf, coincidentally, committed suicide by drowning.
A Tentative Outline
I.
II.
III.
Founding the public school system in Arkansas
a. Emphasis on local control
b. Emerging standards for teachers
c. Prevailing Viewpoints
d. Curriculum actions by the Legislature
Americanism 1920-1944
a. The Jehovah Witnesses:
http://faculty.nwacc.edu/dvinzant/documents/StevenSmith.pdf
Darwin on Trial
a. Darwin: http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entrydetail.aspx?entryID=5991
Darwin on Trial
Initiated Act No. 1, Ark.Acts 1929; Ark.Stat.Ann. ss 80—1627, 80—1628 (1960 Repl. Vol.).
The text of the law is as follows:
Sec 80—1627.—Doctrine of ascent or descent of man from lower order of animals
prohibited.—It shall be unlawful for any teacher or other instructor in any University,
College, Normal, Public School, or other institution of the State, which is supported in
whole or in part from public funds derived by State and local taxation to teach the theory
or doctrine that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals and also
it shall be unlawful for any teacher, textbook commission, or other authority exercising
the power to select textbooks for above mentioned educational institutions to adopt or
use in any such institution a textbook that teaches the doctrine or theory that mankind
descended or ascended from a lower order of animals.
Sec 80—1628.—Teaching doctrine or adopting textbook mentioning doctrine—
Penalties—Positions to be vacated.—Any teacher or other instructor or textbook
commissioner who is found guilty of violation of this act by teaching the theory or doctrine
mentioned in section 1 hereof, or by using, or adopting any such textbooks in any such
educational institution shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be
fined not exceeding five hundred dollars; and upon conviction shall vacate the position
thus held in any educational institutions of the character above mentioned or any
commission of which he may be a member.’
b. Epperson v, State of Arkansas, Supreme Court of the United States November 12,
1968,393 U.S. 9789 S.Ct. 26621 L.Ed.2d 228
c. McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education (1982)
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entrydetail.aspx?search=1&entryID=2243
IV.
How we can use Zinn
a. Columbus
b. Slavery
c. Civil Rights
d. Clinton
OTHER:
Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009
1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold
Hutchins, the creators of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank
MORE
Banned Classics
1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son, by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
38. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
57. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
66. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
Because Arkansas is full of teachable moments, I include this story from the undergrouond:
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21722683-migration-race-charismatic-priest-andlots-cannelloni-parable-italians